Calm and Calamity

Chapter 41

*

Henry rubbed his eyes as he awoke, then sat up from lying down on his office floor.

"You could have at least put some cushions down," said a voice.

He turned to see Antonette Bancroft leaning against the doorway, her arms folded. "Yeah," Henry chuckled. "I regret not doing that."

"I also recommend shutting your office door whilst you're in someone else's mind." Bancroft helped the Sector Head up to his feet. "You're a sitting duck. Anyone could just waltz in and easily kill you."

"Were you about to?" asked Henry playfully. "I suppose that's one way of getting my job."

"No, of course not." Bancroft snorted. "There are security cameras in here."

Laughing, Henry walked over to his desk, sat down, then crossed out another name from his list.

"Who were you talking to?" asked Bancroft, sitting down on the chair opposite him. "Or is that confidential?"

"Riley Larson," answered Henry with a deep sigh.

"The giantess?" Bancroft smirked. "And how did that go?"

"She pretty much swore at me the entire time. I can see why her handler warned me in advance not to do it. That woman does not like having her thoughts read."

"Did you at least learn anything? Anything that could be useful?"

Henry shook his head. "She likes her current situation, so the chances of her disrupting the peace treaty are low. Her relationship with Lili Adebayo appears to be a little rocky at the moment, but I doubt any drama between them will result in a brawl. So, nothing useful there."

"Interrogated anyone else?"

"Oscar Triggs. Though he can't speak still, I could read his thoughts. But he remains loyal to-" Henry's mouth clammed shut as he tried to say the princess' name. He had forgotten about the binding spell preventing him from doing so, from revealing Princess Alfreda's true whereabouts even to someone who knows too, like Bancroft. "He is still loyal to the fire demon," Henry continued. "It was still worth a try. I had hoped that at least one of the servants would perhaps defect. They are, after all, only in the Abyss due to their affiliation to the fire demon. But I have yet to interview all of them thus far. I'm still waiting on their handlers to allow me to use their link."

"I'm surprised you're even telling me any of this," said Bancroft. "Are you not concerned I'll steal all this information, all of your ideas?"

"No, you won't." Henry smiled. "You want to win through your own work, not using my plans. So, I'm not worried at all. Maybe I should just say out loud every plan conceivable, and you won't have anything left to do."

Bancroft smirked. "Well, anyway, I came in to report that the arrangements for the scheduled release are all set."

"Perfect, thank you." Henry marked that off his list. "I have finished editing the video footage, and the turnout is looking to be larger than we anticipated. We'll have to order some more food."

Bancroft hesitated, "speaking of food... I saw that you had cut the donations in the next drop-off."

"Yes, I have," said Henry as he began typing up an email to increase the number of horderves served at the release event. "Is there a problem?"

"I just thought you would have cut it more than that."

"A third should be enough to give them a scare and incite conflict."